Different

The next morning had arrived sooner than time made it feel. I woke up, my room was still very dark due to the new curtains. I was usually up early in the morning anyways as my body had gotten used to it. My internal clock set to go off earlier than it had any real right to. This was the start of my second week at work. I seemed to already have a new morning routine. Wake up, get into pony form, look at myself in the mirror, and wash my face to help me freshen up.

I went down into the kitchen. Even though I was used to skipping breakfast, I figured starting a new eating routine would help me mentally. I opened the fridge to inspect my possibilities, despite me already knowing what was in the fridge. I settled on a carrot as it was big enough to where it would fill me up until I ate again.

After eating my small breakfast, I started my morning walk to the tea shop. Something about this Monday felt like I had finally been given a normal pony life. I felt like a real pony for the first time in a long time. The last time I felt this good about life was before I became homeless. That was years ago, so for the longest time I believed this feeling to be too distant to reach anymore.

The walk gave me plenty of time to think of everything I could do with life now. Living a simple life with a nice relaxing job, new friends, and a place to call my own. Despite my cottage being empty, I was on the streets for way too long to take it for granted. I was going to do my best to make sure I didn't get too caught up though. There is still a war coming at some point. I would eventually need to find a way to help these ponies either defend themselves from the hive or find a way to start a peace treaty. Though, I feel as though the previous display did not help the whole treaty plan. I was ready for war, though I didn't think it would be so soon that we are unprepared for it.

I made it to work at a reasonable time. Based on the suns position, I could tell that I had arrived around eight in the morning. This was perfect because that was when the store opened anyway. I still thought about getting a clock for the cottage and timing how long this walk would take. That would be in case I wake up one morning to find the sun being covered by rain clouds or something. I just started this job, and in the eyes of Izzy I was doing good at it. I did not want to ruin my reputation by showing up late to my new job.

Look at me, thinking like a real pony would. This was such a strange but welcomed feeling. Walking inside, I did my normal morning cleaning routine. This was something that really did not take long at all for me to do. Setting up the register took even less time as I still had everything in position from Friday. I was soon behind the counter and ready to begin. I had not worked on a Monday before so I had no idea how busy or calm the day would be. While I was waiting for ponies to show up, Izzy had started talking to me through the kitchen window.

"So, how did your first weekend in Ponyville go. Outside of the execution on Saturday?"

"Honestly, it went fairly well. I got invited to Sweet Apple Acres. Hanging out with the Apple Family was very fun. I helped kick a few trees, made some new friends, got interview by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and got to try some really good food. Turns out that I really like country food. That, and now I have a new love for apple desserts. Or, at least it was fun in the beginning. I had to leave early due to an accident at the farm." I said, with a slight pause at the end.

Izzy's ears perked up, "Oh no, what happened? Is everypony ok?"

I nodded as I continued. "What happened was a few wooden beams had come loose from the roof of the barn. Big Mac was unlucky enough to get caught underneath it. He took not only the brute force of heavy wood falling on him, but a good amount of nails to his leg. They ended up piercing into his leg and being forced down after more wood had fallen. He had a very big gash in his leg. I helped by stopping the bleeding as he was losing quite a bit of blood. Apple Jack then ran him to the hospital on a wooden cart. He seemed fine despite the fact though. Although, it might have just been the fact that he was in shock about what had happened and had not yet felt it."

Izzy noticeably winced at this. "Well damn, I hope he was able to get it stitched up. This also means that apple production will be lessened for the next few months or so. I'll have to check up on him later."

I took this time to check how much money was in the register. I did this to ensure it was filled with enough money to provide change. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He is a big dude, so I feel as though it'll take a lot more than that to pin him down."

As soon as I had finished counting, a customer walked in. I looked back to Izzy as they were walking up. "Going to have to continue this conversation later, first customer of the day just arrived."

I then turned to face the customer. "Good morning, how may I help you today?" I said this with a bright and honest smile on my face.

The pony who walked up this time was new to the shop. Or rather, it was their first time coming to the shop while I was working there. Though, after giving them my greeting it had hit me who they were. This pony was Octavia Melody. She was a gray earth pony with dark grey hair and purple eyes. She also almost always wore a pink bowtie and white collar. I had wanted to meet her but didn't expect it to be at the tea shop. Made sense for her to be here though. She was known to be a pony of refined tastes. Though, I was told she wasn't a total stick in the mud.

Octavia looked up at me upon making it to the counter. "Oh, I didn't know you worked here. I have heard about you from around town. Is it true what everyone was saying about you being a pianist?"

I was excited about the fact that one of the artists I wanted to meet knew about me. It made me not feel as small as I was used to. I nodded towards her. "Yes ma'am, that is correct. I have been playing for a few years now."

She grinned, "Nice to see a fellow musician out here in Ponyville. There are not many of us out here. Especially those who play natural instruments. I have a roommate who plays this thing called dubstep. It is a bit barbaric, though I must admit that she makes it sound pretty good sometimes. Do not let her know I said this if you see her around."

I let out a small chuckle, "Don't worry Octavia, I will not tell her."

She had tilter her head a bit. "I see you already know my name. I assume from my music?"

"Indeed, I have been a fan of your remakes of old songs since as long as I could remember first hearing you. You are actually one of the main reasons why I got into playing music. I tried starting with the cello but found out that I was naturally way better at the piano. There is just something about stringed instruments that I can't quite figure out." I said this, still smiling.

"That is quite interesting. I always love meeting ponies who have been affected by my music. Maybe one of these days if you are not doing anything we could see how we sound together. I love hearing what others can do." Octavia paused for thought before continuing. "Actually, do you have any plans for after work today? I do not have anything planned for later this afternoon."

"I did not have any plans for after work today. I would love to play music with you. Also, not to rush the conversation but I feel as though this isn't the best place for full conversation. I am new here and do not know if today will be busy or not." I said this in a polite manner.

Octavia giggled a bit. "Right, my apologies. I'll just have a peppermint green tea with a shot of espresso. That'll be it for today." She then looked at the menu to figure out how much she owed. Once she handed me the bits, I placed the order paper through the window and rang up the order number. She had given me exact change, so I did not have to worry about that.

"Ok, you are order number one as you are the first customer of the day. I will call you once your order is ready." I said this to her while noticing the door open again. I could notice through the window that today would be very busy.

Octavia turned to me one more time before going to a table. "I'll stop by when you guys close so that I can lead you to my place later. Sound like a plan?"

I quickly respond to her before the next customer had made it to the counter. "Sound good to me." After saying this, I turned to help out the next customer. I could see a line starting to form meaning I did not have time for any more conversations. Looked like this was going to be a test of how quickly I could do this job. Even though the line was only a few ponies at the time, I still felt like I needed to go as quickly as I could.

After a few ponies. I had noticed myself starting to get into a comfortable work pace. Take the order, collect the money, send the order through the window, give them their order number, call up any orders that were ready, rinse and repeat. This job, although it did seem over whelming in the beginning, looked very easy. I just had to make sure I did not mess up by calling out the wrong order number or something.

It ended up slowing down after what seemed to be a morning rush. This rush lasted from shortly after opening to about nine thirty. This meant that I only had to deal with the morning rush for just under two hours. This made me think about how Izzy could have run the orders and made the tea at the same time. No wonder she was looking for an assistant. She must have not had a good break from this for a while. Though thinking about it, she was the one who had a cutie mark in the subject. My best bet was that she would stay in the kitchen while using her magic to run the register through the window. She did seem very talented with her magic. It was almost scary how good she was with magic.

Eventually, we had come upon a little break. The only downside this job seemed to have was that we basically worked non-stop from opening to closing. This meant that we did not have a lunch break. We were where ponies went to for lunch. This meant that we would take any small break we could get to eat a snack or something from the kitchen. It would mostly just be something very small that would give us the energy we needed for the day. It was a good thing I ate breakfast that morning. This was because, due to it being a Monday, we did not have any left overs that we didn't sell the previous work day. I was perfectly fine with this as this meant I had to spend less on stocking my pantry with full meals. This was just another perk of working this job and being used to not eating much in the first place. Plus, due to the fact that standing behind the counter did not cause me to waste energy, these small snacks would be more than enough to suffice me for the day.

Getting this good work routine was just the step in the right direction I needed in life. I was curious what Tuesdays would be like normally. Something told me that each work day would be different, though the work week would be about the same.

There was a time in which we had the opposite of the morning rush. It would seem that right after these ponies had their normal eleven A.M to one P.M lunch time the store would basically see no activity as a result to everyone going back to work. This was also combined with the fact that tea was mostly a morning and early evening drink. Not many ponies showed up after that, which was fine by me. I was getting paid by the hour, not by the daily customer count. I understood that there was still a correlation of the amount of ponies showing up and the amount of money the shop made. It was up to Izzy how much I would get paid so I understood that if there was something that caused fewer customers that it would mean I eventually got paid less. I did not see that happening any time soon though, going based off the amount of ponies who seemed to swing by. This place, despite being small, was a very popular spot. Sometimes, ponies would just come in and order something small but hang out for a while. At the same time, we seemed to always have enough tables for ponies to sit at as most ponies would get their order to go.

The work day seemed to fly by. I guess that by getting used to this job I had not been paying attention to how fast the day was going. I was sure that the longer I worked there the longer the days would feel. I felt as though it was also due to me being excited for meeting with Octavia after work that day.

The day went had gone by without a hitch. I eventually made it to closing time without making a single mistake. I actually impressed myself with how capable I was at this job. Closing out the register, I had started making my way through my afternoon cleaning check list. I wanted to make sure I finished the day without forgetting something simple like wiping all the tables down.

While I was cleaning, Izzy poked out from the kitchen to talk to me. "Hey Blue. I just wanted to tell you that you did a good job today. You seem to be a fast learner, which is very helpful. This Monday was the smoothest Monday I have had since the last guy moved on to a better job."

I waved thankfully at her, "Oh, thank you. I just wanted to try my best. I figured that I would be working here for a while, so it makes sense for me to get good at it."

She smiled at me, "By the way, I made a cake yesterday if you would like some before spending the day with Octavia. I heard that conversation this morning from the kitchen. Personally, I stick with country music, but her renditions of old classics are very nice to listen to. Once you finish cleaning you can come into the kitchen to grab a slice."

I nodded and continued cleaning, this normal routine that I now had down pact lasting only a few minutes. Upon finishing, I went into the kitchen to put the cleaning supplies away. Turning around, I made my way towards Izzy. Izzy was already done cleaning the kitchen. She levitated both plates and walked us into the main eating room. We sat down in one of the bench seats that I had just finished cleaning up. She then levitated the cake and a fork in front of me.

Izzy waited for me to sit before we had started eating together. "So, I feel as though we have already become good friends, despite me only knowing you for five days. You are the first pony who has worked here with me who I have actually connected with. You seem like somepony who will be a great asset and addition to my list of friends. I do not have that many friends as I generally to myself. Do not get me wrong though, I have lots of friends here in Ponyville. Just not a lot of friends who I put a lot of trust into. I just do not have as many friends as normal ponies do. You are someone I feel like I can trust with my life. If this war does come, you would be the first pony I consider a companion of war."

I was slightly taken aback by this. "I am honored that you think of me as a good friend. I myself have not had a real friend before. The ponies of Manehattan are not friendly. For example, there was one night while I was sleeping in an alley way, due to being homeless, and a random pony decided to kick me in my sleep and call me a retarded slum of a useless bag of bones. All this, because I could be seen from his window. As he then said, my homelessness is cramping his style. So, to hear you call me a good friend means the world to me."

Izzy let out the biggest smile I had seen so far. Not as big as Pinkie Pie's smiling, but very close. Izzy finished her bite of cake before continuing. "Well, if you stick with me, I'll make sure that bad things never happen to you ever again."

Once we finished eating, we took the plates back into the kitchen. Izzy cleaned up the mess, knowing I already cleaned the table recently before. When Izzy went to turn the front sign in the window to closed, Octavia was seen walking up. Izzy then smiled, waving us goodbye as she closed the door behind us.

After we had started trotting through Ponyville, Octavia looked back to me while walking. "So, how was your first Monday at work?"

"A bit hectic, but I quickly got the hang of it. This job seems like one that I will have for a long time." I said, while staying next to her.

"That's good to hear. How polished are you at playing piano? Like, how long has it been?" Octavia said, out of curiosity.

It took me a good few seconds to try to remember the last time I played the piano. "I would have to say about... seven months ago, give or take a few weeks. But I have been playing for years. While I may not be the freshest at it right now, I am sure that my muscle memory will speak for me."

As we were walking towards her home, I could notice that some ponies were waving at me. They were giving basic greetings and saying hello. This feeling made me feel very relaxed. The walk to her home was only a few minutes long, so we did not have much time for conversation.

Upon walking up to the house, I was met by the strangest thing I have ever seen. The house looked like it was split in half because one side was brown, and the other side was different shades of purple. The house chimney was that of an organ pipe. There was also a tree in the front yard shaped like an eighth note. The color split was perfectly down the middle of the house causing the door to be two different colors as well.

"This is very... interesting to say the least." I looked deeply at the house, taking in this strange sight. Once I was led in, I noticed the color also splits on the inside of the house. The right side had nothing but DJ and vinyl equipment, and the left side had more natural and classical instruments. Sitting in the left corner was a grand piano. When I walked in, there was another pony sitting on the couch. This pony was a white unicorn with blue hair. Her blue hair was both a dark blue and light blue pattern. She had on these cool looking purple shades and was listening to music.

"Vinyl, this is Blue. He's the pianist that the town was talking about. I invited him over to practice with him. Please try to behave yourself around our guest." Octavia said this, closing the door behind her. Vinyl just nodded in acknowledgment. She didn't seem to talk all that much.

Octavia pointed to a small coffee table next to the couch. "Blue, you can set your saddle bag down there and make yourself at home. Do you want anything to drink?"

I shook my head, "No, I think I'm good for now."

"So, I thought that maybe you could start with a freestyle piece. That way, I can listen in and gouge your skill level." Octavia said, sitting on the couch.

I sat down at the piano, looking at the keys. This was a huge piano, so I was overwhelmed a bit. "Ok, I can do free style. I'll just play what is on my mind and you can tell me when to stop." I said, glancing back at her. I turned to face the keys once more, hovering my hooves over top.

I then closed my eyes, letting the memory come to me naturally. I cleared my mind, and I started playing. I was playing true free style, so the music was completely original. The song I was playing was mostly made up of the emotions of finding new life and care in the world. I looked down, watching my hooves fly across the piano. This moment reminded me of the first time I played on stage and found my new sense of boldness. This was captured by my cutie mark. Although my cutie mark was artificial, it had true meaning to me.

I played my heart out, letting my symphony of emotions rain out in a display of courageous and bold flavor. This went on for about three hole minutes before Octavia had told me to stop. When she told me to stop, I took just a few seconds to end it on a coda. Octavia looked impressed, which meant that I was doing something right.

Octavia then stood up and grabbed her cello. "Ok, continue again and I will join in. I think I have heard enough to know what emotions you are trying to portray." I was happy about the fact that I was about to hear Octavia play to my emotions. I took a deep breath and continued, letting the piece play itself through me.

After a few seconds, my piano playing was matched up with the cry of the cello. This talented artist matched my emotion to a tee. She has been in this business long enough to play freestyle while also matching an outside characters freestyle. The room was soon filled with beautiful arrangements of life and wonder. This caused Vinyl to remove her headphones and listen in. My style of music, which makes Octavia's additions more impressive, was something completely new. This style of music was my own, and they could tell. Vinyl, who was not known for liking classical pieces, fell in love with my skills as it had traces of piano dubstep.

I might be a changeling, but my piano playing was as real as it gets. Being my main source of income, I had tried to be the best. However, this style of music was not very liked in piano culture. That was the main reason why I did not make it in the big leagues.

A few minutes passed, then the music came to a strong yet relaxing end. Both Octavia and Vinyl were clapping. This was not at all how I had seen this day going. Somehow Octavia, despite being more on the posh side, liked my style of music.

Octavia put her cello back in her case once we had finished. "You know, that was oddly refreshing and satisfying. I haven't had that much fun playing in a long time. Plus, look, you even broke Vinyl away from her music. That is rare to do, as she is so enraptured by her own remixes. I definitely have to say that you have something unique. We have to get your music out there!"

I looked at Octavia before looking down. "I don't think so. With this war coming, I don't think music is the most important thing right now. However, I will gladly perform with you on stage if I ever get a chance. There just simply isn't enough time for me to try to get my name out there. I have been trying for the past four years, but my style is too different,"

Octavia sighed a bit. "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about this war. What a shame, if only music had a place in war. Can't fight a changeling with a cello I suppose." She sat back down on the couch. "I still stand by what I said. You are probably just running with the wrong crowd. I can help you get your name out there."

I smiled, " I am glad you think that way. I will keep practicing with you if you feel as though you could help me out more. Who knows, maybe if I put my skills to test on an electric keyboard, I could make real classical dubstep."

"In the meantime, how about a meal? I was going to make us some ramen noodles." Octavia said this as she was getting up to go into the kitchen. I nodded in acknowledgment and fiddled a little bit with the piano. I was poking at the keys and just listening to it.

"Actually, can I watch you cook? I have never seen anyone make ramen noodles before." I said, getting up from the piano.

Octavia glanced back at my from the kitchen. "Sure, I don't mind letting others watch. I consider it a learning experience for others. Today, I will be making Miso Broth Udon Ramen with mixed vegetables. It is a more advanced ramen to make, so you'll have to watch closely while I make it."

As she said this, she put all the required tools and food on the counter. Seems as though she already had most of it prepared. "Ok, so first you want to fill the pot of water to the half way point. We are going to let it boil on medium heat. Once the water is at temp, we will place the vegetables in. While the water gets to temp, we are going to slice up the various vegetables. How good are you with a knife?"

"I consider myself good with a knife. I am not sure if my knife skills transfer over to cutting food, but I do not mind helping." I said, walking up to the counter.

Octavia handed me a knife while she took some of the vegetables and started cutting. I watched how she had been cutting and followed to the best of my ability. After a few minutes, the water was ready. "OK, now that the vegetables are sliced up, we are going to throw them in the pot." Octavia said this while sliding the vegetables into the water from off of the cutting board.

After a few minutes of stirring the vegetables into the water, Octavia had gotten the noodles out. They were already prepared prior so I would have to learn how to make those later. Octavia then brought the noodles back to the pot and placed them in. While the noodles were becoming soft, she had placed various oils into the mix. This was probably some of her own mixes of herbs and oils.

More time passed and the noodles started getting to the perfect consistency for her liking. Octavia then started explaining more, "Ok, so to make it a miso broth, we need to add the miso. This is a paste, so we have to add it a certain way." While saying this, she had scooped some miso from the container, placing it in the ladle. "Ok, now I like to break the miso paste into something that is more broken up by stirring it in the ladle using the water. This allows you to combine it into the broth at a consistent level."

I watched as she carefully mixed the miso paste into the noodles. After she did this, she set the temperature down to a simmer. This let the broth settle into the noodles while ensuring the noodles keep their texture. "Ok, now we let that sit for a few more minutes and we will be ready to enjoy."

While we were waiting for the ramen to finish, I helped lay out the table alongside Vinyl. While Vinyl and I were finishing up, Octavia was pouring the noodles into bowls while adding finishing touches. We had then all sat down to eat. This was a very delicious meal, and it looked easy to prepare. I'm sure that since I do not know how to make the udon at home, I could find a place to buy them premade.

Octavia looked up at both of us. "So, what do you guys think?"

I looked up after finishing my bite. "This is really good. What ever those extra things you added into the noodles made it taste so much better than when you get it at a ramen shop." Octavia blushed a bit, then turned to look at Vinyl. Vinyl, being her normal quiet self, used her magic to levitate an already empty bowl, nodding her head up and down. She was clearly a big fan. I wondered why she never spoke but didn't have the heart to ask. I was assuming that she was just very selective at when she speaks.

After the meal, and cleaning up, we went back into the living room. Octavia then sat down at the piano and started teaching me some new things. In a small conversation we had while cleaning up, I had told her how I was self-taught and didn't know all there was to learn. She seemed to love teaching music to me. Octavia was a genuinely great music teacher. This lasted around an hour or so before I had looked outside and noticed how dark it was getting.

"Thank you both so much for everything from the hospitality, to the ramen. I do have to go soon though so that I can get enough sleep for tomorrow. Thank you for teaching me everything you did today, Octavia."

Octavia patted me on the back, "Of course, and thank you for showing your music to us. You honestly gave us a better day, as our last week was not very good. It is too much to go into detail about right now, but just know that we needed this break. You have a great rest of your day!"

I then grabbed my things, waved goodbye, and started heading home. I had hoped to meet up with them again in the near future. I had this new feeling of accomplishment for finding out that the pony who unknowably led me to the music business actually liked my piano playing. This filled me with an emotion I haven't felt in a very long time. Ponyville seems to do that to me quite a lot. Every new day was becoming better than the last.

I started walking through the town, no longer afraid of much. I even became bold enough to wave hello at the royal guards. They seemed friendly enough, helped by the fact that they had no idea that I was a changeling. I wish life could stay this way forever. It was just a shame that the hive doesn't know these feelings even exist. Maybe that can be how I create a peace treaty with the hive and the ponies. If I can find a way to teach them about all the things this life can bring, maybe they would be willing to work something out.

While walking back, I noticed that there were more ponies walking the streets at this time than usual. I had no idea what was going on, but suddenly I was spooked by a sound in the distance. I looked up to see the sky was filled with these exploding colors. Fireworks were going off and I had no idea why.

I walked up to a random pony, who seemed to be settling in on a bench to watch the show. "Hey, do you know why they are having a fireworks show?"

The stranger looked at me before looking back. "Oh, that is just Trixie. She is doing her stage magic on the other side of that building." As they said this, they pointed to a building.

I looked back at them before responding, "Why are you over here watching the fireworks then?"

They simply looked at me before looking back up. "I do not like her show, though her fireworks are still very pretty."

I looked back up at the sky, then back to the stranger. I shrugged this off and headed to the building. This was on my way to my cottage so I thought I could stop by for a few minutes. After I made my way around the building, I saw that there was this cart that a pony had turned into a stage. This pony was a light blue unicorn mare with an even lighter shade of blue for her hair color. She had on this cape and large hat. Both of these thing had a similar design with the background being a vibrant purple color loaded with various stars. In front of the stage was a decent sized group of onlookers. Most of the crowd was filled with mothers and their children. I had noticed that this pony was just doing simple magic tricks for a group of young fillies and colts. This warmed my heart a bit.

I watched for a few minutes before continuing back towards the cottage. I would have stayed longer, but a changeling can lose their disguise if they become too tired to concentrate. It was getting to a point where the stars were already coming out. Making my way up the dirt path, I saw that I was once again alone. I was guessing that Fluttershy had already made it home and that was why I did not see her.

Entering my home, I turned on the lights. Even though the cottage was still mostly empty, I could feel as though this was more than my cottage now. It was my place to call a home, just undecorated. Still full from the ramen, I decided to skip out on eating before bed.

I locked all the doors and made my way back up to my room. That bed of blankets was calling my name. After once again verifying that the house was secure and that the curtains were all closed, I dropped my disguise. After going back into my true self, and turning all the lights off, I flopped myself onto my bed. This was a great day, and I was hoping tomorrow would be even better.